Q-school offers unique brand of pressure for LPGA Tour hopefuls

Tuesday

A year ago, former Daytona State College star Mitsuki Katahira came within one quality swing of changing her career path. She's back to try again, along with 121 other LPGA Tour hopefuls.

Standing in the 18th fairway at the Champions Course a year ago, with one more green to approach in the final round of the five-day LPGA Tour qualifying final, Mitsuki Katahira knew the score — literally.

A birdie-4 would land her in the top 20 and earn her an exemption onto the 2012 LPGA Tour. A par would put her in a playoff for the 20th spot (a playoff that eventually included nine golfers for that one exemption). A bogey, if it was even part of the discussion, would drop her into that limbo known as “conditional status,” meaning part-time privileges at best.

Katahira, whose practice discipline has her familiar with every blade of Bermuda on LPGA International, was standing on a course she calls home. She was hitting a 3-wood that, like all of the clubs in her bag, is practically an extension of her arms. A nice swing, followed by either two putts or a chip-and-putt birdie, would do the trick.

Instead, an uncharacteristic pull found the water left of the green. Whether it was nerves, the side-hill lie or simply a bad swing, the final result was a bogey, a tie for 29th and most of 2012 on the LPGA's developmental Symetra Tour for the former Daytona State star and two-time junior-college national champion.

“I knew I had to make a birdie to be safe,” said the Tokyo native, recalling that final fairway from a year ago. “I tried to go for it. I don't regret anything.”

That's the beauty and beast of a qualifying tournament — ultimate relief and career-cramping disappointment are each on display and available for all.

Wednesday through Sunday, LPGA International's two courses — the Champions and Legends — will serve as potential launching pads for 122 golfers looking to either begin life on golf's top women's tour, regain lost tour privileges or, in the case of some, improve a status that has slipped below that “fully exempt” comfort zone.

Golfers competing in the 90-hole LPGA Qualifying Final (“Q-school”) will play two rounds at each course through Saturday — with the field split among the two courses each day — and Sunday's final round on the Champions Course, after the field is cut to the low 70 and ties after fourth-round play.

“It's so hard to get through Q-school,” Katahira said. “It's hard to do, but you need to try to relax.”

Katahira, who remained in Daytona Beach after her two years at DSC, isn't the only Q-school competitor with local ties. The others:

• Jessy Tang — born in Miami, played collegiately at UCF, relocated to Daytona Beach.

• Moriya Jutanugarn — Thai golfer won the 2012 Sally Championship at Oceanside Country Club in Ormond Beach and was medalist in the LPGA Stage 1 qualifier at LPGA International in September.

As usual with the qualifying final, the field includes familiar faces trying to improve their exempt status for the following season. This year's biggest name is Christina Kim, a two-time winner on the LPGA Tour and a three-time member of the U.S. Solheim Cup team. Kim fell to No. 110 on the money list in 2012.

Also in the field is England's Melissa Reid, who hopes to turn her full-time attention to the American tour. Reid is a four-time winner on the Ladies European Tour and a member of Europe's 2011 Solheim Cup team.

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